Once again, the women frustrate me.

Really, it was just Emilia this time. Like seriously.. there was a much better opportunity to tell the world about the handkerchief than AFTER Desdemona was strangled to death.

But, in reality, in did feel good to see Iago get crushed. "Are there no stones in Heaven But what serve for thunder? Precious villain!" (V.ii.234-35) and then he ran at Iago with a sword. This was a really cathartic moment, until Iago kills Emilia, which isn't really all that sad. Although, she did have a pretty crappy life. Maybe she was glad it was over.

I guess I can't look at it logistiacally, Shakespeare wouldn't have let Emilia reveal the truth about the handkerchief when it was convenient, or else the play would have been really short and Iago probably would have been dead or thrown out on the streets.

JEALOUSY

#5: jealously takes over all rationality

The characters that really get jealous in Othello are (obviously) Iago, Othello, and Bianca.

Iago took it to the extreme, but they all contributed to the death of Desdemona, Othello and Emilia.

I could never quite understand if Iago was jealous of Othello for maybe having that affair with Emilia.. he only seemed concerned about a few times. Everyone kept saying that he really didn't care about Cassio's issues, but I feel like that's really all he cared about. He never sought revenge by sleeping with her. And he did try to kill Cassio.

The jealousy that Othello felt prevented him from thinking rationally at all. Don't you think you would at least ask your wife about the affair before you strangled her? The handkerchief was found with Cassio and he gets to kill her? In the end Othello says to think of him as "one not easily jealous..." (V.ii.344) But that is definitely not true at all.

And Bianca.. she didn't play a big role, but she was jealous over Cassio's "handkerchief mistress". Which made Iago's plan go more smoothly. It made Cassio look like an even bigger pig than what he already appeared to be. This made Othello angrier and then he killed Desdemona. Sad story.

Boo hoo

#2 the play is a tragedy.

I think not knowing the play was a tragedy may have been better.. then the audience would not have expected death in the end. I think it would have been less sad if Cassio would have died versus Desdemona, Othello and Emilia. No one really liked Cassio, I don't think. In Act IV, Othello tells Iago that he will murder Desdemona with poison, but then Iago says "Do it not with poison, strangle her in bed..." (IV.i.191) And I thought for sure that it was just Iago stalling so that he could kill Cassio before Othello killed Desdemona and everything would be good.. but I was wrong, which made the ending more tragic than I thought it would be.

I knew someone was going to commit suicide, and it makes most sense that Othello would be the one. Once he found out that Desdemona was actually truthful, he hated himself too much.

Not as sad as Romeo and Juliet, but I give it 48/9 stars. (This was actually better.. Everyone knows Romeo and Juliet die)

Frustration

I would just like to talk about how frustrating the women are in this play! I know that Iago is causing all this drama, but they keep it going. They hold the power to prevent it all, but are too dumb to realize it.

Desdemona is just trying to "vow a friendship" (III.iii.21) with Cassio by getting his job back. But if she would have just told Othello that she lost the handkerchief when she was trying to give it to him, then maybe Othello would have calmed down and trust her again.

And if Emilia had told Desdemona that it was Iago that stole the handkerchief when she witnessed Othello yelling at Desdemona, then Iago would have been found out.

And if Bianca would act on her jealousness, she would realize who's handkerchief it was and return it to Desdemona and Othello would have no proof of any sort of infidelity.

Protag.. I mean Antagonist

The antagonist in Othello is clearly Iago. He has started all the drama that has gone down so far. He has many different faces and is driven by pure jealously. He treats his wife like dirt.. "A good wench. Give it to me" (III.iii.314) (And yet she continues to obey him). He's an overall terrible character.

I can't identify with proof the protagonist yet, but I'm guessing it is Othello.

Cassio and Iago are probably foil characters. Cassio has been actually doing his job and cares about his reputation through actual hard work. (He does his job) and Iago is only looking out for himself and his own reputation and is willing to take out anyone in his way of becoming second in command under Othello.

Dramatic Suspense!

Contrast the amount of information possessed by the audience as the play proceeds with the knowledge that various other characters have: what is the effect of such a contrast?

This is pretty obvious. Poor Othello is so out of the loop. In Act III, Iago has multiple conversations with different people, so the audience knows all sides of the story. In his asides or conversations with Roderigo, he reveals that he is not the "this fellow of exceeding honesty" (III.iii.259) that he claims to be.

But Because Othello believes Desdemona is cheating on him and Desdemona has no idea, suspense is created. Will Cassio and Desdemona live? (More importantly, will Iago DIE?)

Iago's extreme jealously has driven him to frame a good man against Othello, which will ruin many lives..

Desdemona is "most unhappy in the loss of the [handkerchief]" (III.iii.95) but Emilia does not say anything about it, which is really annoying. She has the power to fix it, if she would just tell Desdemona about Iago stealing it.